The Sisters Of Mercy
Wake: Choruses From Under the Rock

THE REVIEW

Hello dear ones, here is my new (I won't say seventh) review, and true to my style, I'm reviewing another Gothic concert.

This time we talk about the legendary concert by the Sisters of Mercy released on VHS with the title "Wake." The concert was the final performance of that line-up, a performance made especially for the fans.

Let's take a step back into my personal life: it was the early nineties when I excitedly went to rent my first CDs from my trusted music store.

My initiation into Gothic was with the collection Some Girls Wander by Mistake by the Sisters, inside there were all the covers of the singles. What can I say, that music, those song titles, those lyrics, that image changed my life. They were TOO DAMNED, TOO SICK, TOO DARK.

Growing up, I realized that it was I who didn't want to be "normal" in a phase of my life, and I've changed since then, but that's another story.

The Sisters represented the macho and rock side of the English Gothic scene of the Eighties, they had a (then) very original sound and a singer with a low and cavernous voice, post-punk guitars at times, at others epic, with damned and rebellious lyrics.

Let's get to the concert:

It was held on June 18, 1985, at the Royal Albert Hall, at the height of their success and commercial following, a fame also due to the success of the Gothic movement phenomenon.

The curtain rises and behind the smoke machine, there are our four, you see a long-haired Wayne Hussey on guitar, Andrew Eldritch with a cowboy hat and a cigarette in hand, completing the band Gary Marx on the other guitar and Craig Adams on bass.

Throughout the concert, the director plays with lights and visual effects in a shoot that now appears a bit dated (and ridiculous).

It opens with First and Last and Always, and already under the stage, people are singing and dancing. The song has a very epic and immediate riff and a voice that shouts in the chorus. Followed by Body and Soul, and then Marian, very depressing and sad, with singing that rises and falls several times. Here comes No Time to Cry, also epic, with the anthem of the chorus.

"Walk Away" arrives, also powerful and energetic... it's clear that the setlist is based on the most gripping and rock pieces: the pattern is always the same, subdued verse and powerful chorus. Then there is Possession, I adore this song with a very catchy keyboard hook.

Then the cover Emma, Anphetamine Logic, here is A Rock and a Hard Place, energetic and to be sung in chorus, Floorshow, a special mention for Alice, one of the most maudit and sick songs in music history, with a simple but unique structure (for me THE sick riff par excellence), then Fix and Knockin' on Heaven's Door.

In conclusion, I say that over the years I've loved the various copycat bands (namely Garden of Delight, Love Like Blood, Dronning Maud Land, Rosetta Stone, Nosferatu, Merry Thoughts, etc.), but the Sisters, perhaps because of a unique period, are more in my heart.....

To be continued....